Volunteer of the Month: July 2017

Volunteer of the Month: July 2017

At the Sausalito Art Festival in 2013, Jim was fascinated by the big white tent and a huge pile of lumber. By 2014 Matthew Turner’s frames were being erected, and Jim signed on as a volunteer. At first he was planing lumber and pushing logs around. When Alan learned that Jim was a Professional Engineer (PE), with expertise in Civil and Structural Engineering, and that he could sign off design changes, Alan was overjoyed. Jim was promoted to the office, calculating lumber requirements for the planking and deck plywood. He wrote specifications, sourced materials and ordered what was needed. He wrote our Project Plans so that jobs occur in an orderly sequence and volunteer resources could be applied as needed, and he was our Project Safety Engineer and Fireman #1 during the plank steaming process.
Jim says, “I want to thank all my friends at ETS for letting me participate in this important effort to build a platform that will allow thousands of young people to go sailing and experience education in a maritime environment. This project is the best example of teamwork I have ever seen”.

Jim has been a competitive shooter since he was 12 years old. Competitive shooting long guns (.22

caliber) was his specialty and he competed as often as possible. Jim became such a good marksman

that he was one of 18 shooters who qualified for the 1968 Olympics.

After working as a printer for several newspapers and graduating with his Engineering degree, Jim

went to work in 1979 designing the world’s first container cranes. For 14 years, he was involved in

crane design, installation and expansion projects all over the world.

In 1991, Jim went to work for BART. For the next 13 years Jim wore many hats. He managed

contractors and was project manager for the BART extension to San Bruno and SFO. Jim also served

as the Group Manager of West Bay Operations manager.

Jim’s personal and professional contacts enabled us to procure free usage of scaffolding and to facilitate